Pittsburgh awarded 3 low-income housing tax credits to bring more affordable housing to city

Pittsburgh was awarded three low-income housing tax credits to bring more than 100 affordable housing units to the city, Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency board announced Thursday.

The tax credits will apply to 112 housing units in the city’s Allentown, Fairywood and Hill District neighborhoods.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program supports the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing, providing low-income families with housing at lower rent rates. LIHTC provides an annual tax credit for owners of affordable rental properties for the first 10 years of operation. Properties must be affordable for at least 30 years.

Developers can use the tax credits to raise equity from investors to finance a project, officials said.

With these three additional tax credits, the city is continuing a record run of LIHTC allocations.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh supported the projects by contributing over $1.5 million in preliminary commitments to provide gap funding as part of the projects’ applications.

“Providing high-quality affordable housing has been a top priority of my administration and we are grateful to Gov. Wolf and our partners in Harrisburg for helping to bring additional tax credits to Pittsburgh,” Mayor Bill Peduto said. “Collaboration of partners from all sectors is critical to meet the need for housing in our city and I thank the URA and development partners for creating an additional 112 affordable units for people and families.”

Three Pittsburgh programs are receiving tax credits.

The first, Cedarwood Homes in Fairywood, conducted by Cedarwood Homes LLC and Tryko Partners, will involve building 46 new, mixed income, garden-style apartments with senior occupancy. Of the 46 total units, 39 will be earmarked for affordable housing.

Catalyst Communities LLC received tax credits for its Letsche School and Townhomes project. The project calls for the adaptive reuse of a historic school building, as well as new construction of four adjacent townhomes in the Hill District. There will be 46 total units at the site, 42 of which will be affordable.

Launched by Gatesburg Road Development and the Hilltop Alliance, Hilltop Scattered Site will include 31 total housing units, all of which will be affordable. The project will build 31 lease-to-own units through the acquisition and redevelopment of 33 vacant lots and abandoned homes in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood.